CompOS Chapter 4: File Systems

HFS+ features on Mac OS X 3.0 include:

1. A case sensitive format to make the file system more compatible with other UNIX/Linux systems 2. Journaling 3. Ability to store up to 16 TB of data

NFTS 5 features:

1. Ability to encrypt files 2. No system reboot required after creating an extended volume 3. Ability to reduce drive designations 4. Indexing for fast access 5. Ability to retain shortcuts and other file information when files and folders are placed on other volumes 6. Ability to establish disk quotas

Mac OS X default folder structure include:

1. Applications 2. System 3. Library 4. Users 5. Documents

First two sectors of a Mac-formatted disk are:

1. Boot sectors or boot blocks 2. The volume information block

Information found in metadata?

1. Date and Time the folder or file was created. 2. Date and time the folder or file was last modified 3. Date and time the folder or file was last accessed 4. Folder or file size 5. Folder or file attributes or if the folder or file was backed up 6. If the information is compressed or encrypted

Windows XP through Windows Server 2008 R2 supported these file systems:

1. Extended FAT16 2. FAT32 3. NTFS

1984 Macintosh Filing System (MFS)

1. Kept track of 128 documents, applications or folders 2. 400 KB floppy disk drive. This made MFS limited

Basic NFTS 4 features:

1. Long filenames 2. Built-in security 3. Better file compression than FAT 4. Ability to use larger disks and files than FAT 5. File activity tracking for better recovery and stability than FAT 6. Portable Operating System Interface for UNIX (POSIX) support 7. Volume striping and volume extensions 8. Less disk fragmentation than FAT

A chaotic file structure?

1. Makes it difficult to run or remove programs 2. Makes it difficult to determine the most current versions 3. Makes users spend unproductive time looking for specific files

Extended FAT16 features:

1. Maximum size of a volume is 4GB 2. Maximum size of a file is 2GB 3. Can be read by non-Windows OS like UNIX 4. Considered a stable file system 5. Long filenames can be used.

Default folder/file structure example:

1. OS Files 2. Software Applications 3. Work files 4. Public files shared over the network 5. Utilities files 6. Temporary files

General tasks performed by file systems?

1. Provide a convenient interface for users and applications to open and save files. 2. Provide a hierarchical structure to organize files 3. Store file metadata to provide detailed information about files. 4. Organize space on a storage device.

FAT32 Features:

1. Root folder does not have to be at the beginning of a volume 2. Can use disk space more efficiently than FAT 16 (smaller cluster sizes) 3. Largest volume is 32GB 4. Max file size is 4GB 5. Offers fast response on small partitions (1-2GB partitions)

The Master Boot Record consists of four elements, what are they?

1. The Boot program 2. The disk signature 3. The partition table 4. The end-of-MBR marker

NFTS 6 features:

1. Transactional NFTS 2. Partition resizing 3. Self-healing

How much space does the MFT and related files take up?

1MB of disk space

Disk are referenced by a special inode called?

A device

What is a file?

A set of data that is grouped in some logical manner, assigned a name, and stored on disk.

What is a low-level format?

A software process that marks the location of disk tracks and sectors.

FAT64 support is available for Linux from?

A third party

What is a defragmenter?

A tool that rearranges data on the disk in a continuous fashion, ridding the disk of scattered open clusters.

FAT32 was designed for?

Accommodating larger capacity disks

An extended partition may?

Be further divided into logical drives.

First version of ext had?

Bugs.

NFTS file compression

Can be compressed by more than 40% to save disk storage

Long Filenames (LFN)

Can contain up to 255 characters and is not case sensitive

what do inodes contain?

Contains metadata on the file.

What are clusters?

Correlates to sectors, heads, and tracks on the disks.

What are Logical Drivers?

Creating multiple logical volumes on a single disk and assigning drive letters to each volume

To avoid chaotic file structures?

Design the file and folder structure from the start.

The chkdsk utility

Detects and fixes an extensive set of file system problems in FAT and NFTS system

When opening a file, the file type?

Determines exactly how the file is opened.

What is Block Allocation?

Divides the disk into logical blocks called clusters.

Dynamic disks

Do not use traditional partitioning techniques

What types of drive partitioning does Windows support?

Dynamic and Basic

What are sectors?

Equally divided sections on a track.

What is Linux native file system called?

Extended file system (ext or ext fs)

Extended FAT16 evolved from?

FAT16 used in earlier versions of MS-DOS and Windows

Basic disks support how many partitions per hard drive?

Four. Four primary partitions or three primary and one extended partition.

What was FAT64 good for?

Good choice for USB flash devices that may store large files

What is hard linking?

Having multiple filenames that refer to the same file.

Where are devices normally kept?

In /dev or /devices

When did Apple created Hierarchical Filing System (HFS)?

In 1986.

When did Apple created Hierarchical Filing System Extended Format (HFS+)?

In 1998

When did FAT64 first become available?

In Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista.

ReFS main use

In large file-sharing applications where volumes are managed by Storage Spaces

What are inodes?

Information nodes which help identify each file with an inode number.

What is metadata?

Information that describes data but is not the actual data itself.

What is a File System?

It allocates locations on a disk for storage and it keeps a record of where specific information is kept.

ReFS can correct?

It can correct some types of data corruption automatically.

What is the superblock?

It contains information about the layout of blocks, sectors, and cylinder groups on the file system.

What is a symbolic link?

It is used to link a directory entry to a file that is on a different partition.

What is journaling?

Keeping a log or journal of file system activity.

What are tracks?

Like several circles around a disk.

How many file systems can be used with UNIX?

Many different file systems

NTFS uses ____ instead of FAT tables.

Master File Table (MFT)

NFTS security features

Meet the US government's C2 security specifications. "top secret"

ReFS is backward-compatible with?

NFTS, but doesn't support file compressions, disk quotas, and EFC (Encrypting File System)

Do all OS support partitions in the same way?

No, each OS uses specific utilities to create partitions.

Does the inode contain a filename?

No, the filename is stored in a folder.

Can Windows be booted from an ReFS volume?

No.

Folder/Directory is?

Organizational structure that contains files and may additionally contain subdirectories.

In order to use the UNIX/Linux file system one must first?

Partition a disk

What is the Boot Block (Master Boot Record for Windows)?

Piece of the disk that is reserved

What is NTFS?

Primary Windows file system for all Windows OSs starting with Windows NT 3.1

What is volume striping?

Process that equally divides the contents of each file across two or more volumes to extend disk life, enable fault tolerance, and balance disk load for better performance.

What is FAT64?

Proprietary file system introduced by Microsoft for mobile personal storage.

What are the two types of devices?

Raw Device: has no logical division in blocks Block device: does have logical division in blocks

Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, and later versions also supported?

ReFS

Another name for the computers primary level?

Root Directory or Root Folder

CD-ROM File System (CDFS)

So that OSs can read and write files to DVD/CD-ROM drives

Resilient File System (ReFS) became available when?

Starting with Windows Server 2012

Ext4

Supports file sizes up to 16 TB

What does the Volume Information block contain?

The catalog b-tree, or a list of all the files on the disk

After partitioning?

The disk must be high-level formatted in order for the OS to store files.

What is Partitioning?

The process of blocking a group of tracks and sectors to be used by a particular file systems.

What is Formatting?

The process of placing the file system on the partition.

Overall purpose of a file system?

To create a structure for filing data.

Basic disks use

Traditional disk partitioning techniques

Most versions of UNIX and Linux support which file system?

UNIX file system (ufs), which is the original UNIX file system

Ext is modeled after?

Ufs, and enables the use of the full range of built-in Linux commands, file manipulation, and security,

How to format a disk on UNIX?

Use fdisk or format command

Universal Disk Format (UDF)

Used on DVD/CD-ROMs, which are used for large file storage to accommodate movies and games.

How do you convert a basic disk to a dynamic disk?

Using the Disk Management tool

What is a hard link?

When several folder entires point to the same inode

What is the Partition table?

Where information about a created partition is stored on a special area of the disk. Known as disk label in UNIX/Linux

When did support for FAT32 start?

With Windows 95 Release 2

Hard disks arrive from the manufacturer?

With low-level formatting

Do ufs and ext use the same structure?

Yes

Does Mac OS support medium filenames?

Yes, always has.

Are clusters a fixed length?

Yes.

Can Macintoshes read/write to other disks from other OSs?

Yes.

Does NFTS have journaling?

Yes.

UNIX file system (ufs) is

a hierarchical file system that is expandable, supports large storage, provides excellent security, and is reliable.

Ext3

added journaling capabilities

FAT64 is also known as?

exFAT

Ext2

reliable file system that handles large disk storage

What are unusable spots on the disk called?

the FAT marks it as bad clusters, as in they are never used for file storage

Dynamic disk make it possible

to set up a large number of volumes

Mac uses what instead of filename extensions like in Windows?

type codes and creator codes